Tata: NC DOT backs deleting 3 toll-road mandates

Gov. Pat McCrory's administration supports a bill to eliminate a mandate on North Carolina transportation officials to build toll-road projects in Gaston County, the northern Outer Banks and near Wilmington.

State Transportation Secretary Tony Tata told top legislative leaders his agency backs a House bill altered by the Senate.

The legislation initially directed engineers to review an unlikely alternate route for part of Raleigh's Outer Beltline. The Senate added provisions deleting the Garden Parkway, Mid-Currituck Bridge and Cape Fear Skyway from state law requiring their construction.

The bill has sat in the House for two weeks awaiting action.

Tata said in a letter last week the department believes all projects should compete for funding through the state's data-driven prioritization process.